1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a detecting pattern forming method for identifying a malfunctioning droplet injecting element and an ink jet recording apparatus capable of detecting an ink injection condition by ejecting ink droplets so as to form a detecting pattern on a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
The maintenance of a quality of an image requires detecting the injection condition of an ink droplet in an ink jet, recovering the ink jet according to the condition, replacing a nozzle with another nozzle, making a blank inconspicuous by image processing, and the like.
Regarding this detection, several methods have been proposed for printing a printing pattern for detection so as to detect the printing pattern by an optical sensor.
In order to facilitate the detection of yellow ink whose visibility is low, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 9-66650 discloses that yellow ink is printed and overlaid with ink of other colors to make a secondary color and the detection is performed with respect to the secondary color. A detecting sensor for color printing is required in this method, and the sensor raises production cost. Moreover, additional ink of colors other than yellow is needed to consume.
JP-A No. 9-94950 discloses that an image is independently printed at a visible position by avoiding adjacent printing in order to enhance the visibility of a pattern for printing examination. The degradation of the visibility is recognized in the case of ink having a low concentration such as yellow ink or a head of a high resolution with a small dot diameter.
JP-A No. 2004-9474 discloses that printing and detection are performed by shifting a printing nozzle. The degradation of detection sensitivity is recognized in the case of ink having a low concentration such as a yellow ink or a head of a high resolution with a small dot diameter.
In the prior art, in the case where a transparent liquid such as a treatment liquid for preventing any ink ooziness is ejected from a nozzle, a transparent printing pattern is formed, and such a transparent pattern is not detected by an optical sensor.